Yemen Blockade ’Killing’ Civilians: Doctors Without Borders
Local Editor
The Saudi-led military coalition’s blockade of Yemen is "killing" as many civilians as the war, the head of aid group Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières [MSF] Joanne Liu said on Thursday during a visit to the country.
By preventing medicine from reaching the sick, the blockade is "killing as [many people as] the current conflict," Liu told AFP in a telephone interview from Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
It was the latest warning about the humanitarian situation in Yemen, four months after the Saudi-led coalition began bombing in the impoverished country.
"...We need to put in place ways to get supplies to come in, in a safe way, and people can get their medicine and not die" of easily treatable diseases, Liu further said.
"What we have to remember is Yemen is 90 percent dependent on external supply for food, 100 percent for medical supplies," Liu added.
Saudi-led coalition forces declared a temporary five-day "humanitarian pause" to allow in aid beginning last Monday, but it collapsed the next day after it had resumed airstrikes on residential areas in Taez.
"We’re concerned," Liu said. "Right now there’s not a total truce going on.
Liu, a Canadian doctor who was flying out after almost two weeks in Yemen, visited the north and the southern district of Taez.
"We see patients right now dying because they’re not getting their treatment" for common illnesses, she said.
Liu declared that the number of internally displaced people is increasing, and the fighting is preventing people from reaching medical facilities.
One mother walked for six hours to reach a clinic with her malnourished child, but the youngster died a few hours later, she said. "That’s the type of scenario we see repeatedly right now."
Liu further spoke of the difficulties they face in trying to provide care.
In Saada, there are air strikes every one or two days, she said. "One day out of two our team are spending their time in the basement waiting for air strikes to stop," she said.
Human Rights Watch [HRW] recently this week also accused the Saudi-led coalition of hitting residential areas, causing civilian deaths.
Eighty percent of Yemen’s population -- an estimated 21 million people -- are in need of aid and protection, and more than 10 million are struggling to obtain food and water, the UN has said.
"It’s a hard conflict," Liu commented.
